FEATURED ARTICLEHealth and Heritage: Nutrition in Native American CommunitiesAt the Phoenix Indian Medical Center in Arizona, many new mothers leave with more than their baby. They also take a key chain — a leather cord strung with beads that anchor a marble-sized hazelnut and a larger walnut. Drawn from Native American culture, the key chains are part of an effort to encourage breastfeeding and pre-empt a grave health issue among the medical center’s patients: diabetes.A laminated card accompanying the key chain says “Babies were born to be breastfed.” The card explains that when nature guides portion control (the nuts illustrate the size of a baby’s stomach at birth and week one), babies eat healthy amounts. Six years ago, Suzan Murphy, RD, MPH, CDE, IBCLC, a commander in the U.S. Public Health Service, was part of a team that reviewed early infant feeding practices of American Indians and Alaska Natives compared to the general U.S. population. Breastfeeding — which has been shown to reduce the risk of diabetes when it lasts two months or longer — is of special concern at the Phoenix Indian Medical Center where Murphy works. The rate of diabetes in American Indian populations is nearly 10 percent higher than that of the general U.S. population and diabetes increasingly is developing in Native citizens nearly a decade earlier than in non-Native Current subscribersLogin to download this issue as a PDF |